How Joey Devine will counter the Bronx heat

The A’s will try to avoid another Bronx mugging and break their 11-game losing streak to the Yankees with Rich Harden on the mound.

“The best way to put that to bed is win a game,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You go through streaks. This is a bit of a long one. You don’t want it to get to the point where you’re thinking about it, so the best way to put that one away is to win a game so we won’t have to answer questions about it.”

Are the A’s thinking about it?

“Typically, when you lost that many games, you can’t help but think about it,” Melvin said. “But every game you don’t win, the questions arise, and you have to think about having answers for them.”

Melvin said he wouldn’t hesitate today or tomorrow to use Joey Devine, who had no control Friday (18 pitches, six strikes) because he couldn’t properly grip the ball with sweaty hands, caused by the Bronx heat. His first pitch to Brandon Laird sailed behind Laird, who was in the batter’s box for the first time as a big-leaguer.

“That’s the last thing I want to do to a kid making his major-league debut,” Devine said.

If the A’s have a late-game lead, Devine will be the seventh-inning guy, followed by Grant Balfour and Andrew Bailey.

“Everybody’s pitching in the same situation,” Melvin said, “so he’s going to have to find a way to combat that.”

Devine hopes he found a way. It’s called “sweat shield,” a cream applied to the skin that acts as a grip enhancer. Devine is using it today.

“Hopefully it works because the resin they have on the mound is almost like baby powder,” Devine said.